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I have been doing O3's for about 2 months now and am beginning to notice they sometimes feel redundant. This makes me a little uncomfortable. Has anyone else experienced this. At first it was new and exciting and I really liked sitting down with the team. Now, I feel like it is drudgery, and I feel like the feeling is mutual.

What am I doing wrong? What should I do differently? Is this normal?

Brad

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Brad-

What you're going through is normal. It doesn't usually happen this fast - two months from liking sitting down with them to drudgery?? - but the newness wears off and it becomes routine.

Good management IS routine. You are building a base of your relationships - please do tell me you've learned a lot - so that when you need to have some insight, or ask for more effort, or motivate them for something unique, the trust will have been established, and the effort much easier.

Mark

bradleymewes's picture

I wouldn't change them for the world and my relationships with my people have improved SIGNIFICANTLY as a result. Even more, I have learned so much more about how to communicate with other people throughout the entire organization.

Maybe drudgery is an extreme word...but the excitement and energy aren't what it used to be. I was very excited when I started O3's due to the great response. I guess I wan't expecting the transition from new and exciting to routine so quickly.

Looking at the big picture 3 months ago I was going through a crisis with my people. I tried to implement a sense of urgency in my team and went about it the COMPLETE wrong way. In fact I posted about it. Mark you told me that the pain I was feeling was my management muscles developing. Well, what I learned was that I was exercising the wrong way! What a difference 3 months have made. Since then I have focused on communication. I implemented O3's with my directs and have weekly skip level meetings with my paint department. These skip levels are eagerly anticipated by the entire paint team every week and the lowest performing team with the lowest moral has now turned into a diamond in the rough. And yes, I do attribute this to O3's with my directs. Since I have implemented O3's with my directs all of my directs are MUCH more open minded, eager to hear feedback and willing to be coached. So much so that my partner (who is rather old school) is getting jealous (that is a whole other topic though).

The most important thing I learned is, if you can't say internally "Mark I love you" before giving any sort of feed back, DON'T GIVE IT. It makes such a difference and it is noticed by everyone.

Best compliment I received is "wow, I wish my manager knew how to talk to me like you do." Second best is "I wish I could give feedback as well as you can."

I firmly believe I owe all of that to beginning O3's. But enough of me babbling on about all that I've learned. The short answer to your reply is yes, I have learned a lot.

Brad

Mark's picture
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Brad-

Good management is boring.

Well done.

Mark